A resident of Kikuchi City, in southwestern Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture, woke up this morning to find a mob of emus, large flightless birds native to Australia, passing by their home. They immediately contacted city officials.

According to a report by the Yomiuri Shimbun, the emus had escaped from the Kikuchi Emu Tourist Farm, which usually looks like this:

The company that runs the farm uses the former site of an elementary school to raise 54 emus. About 20 of them are believed to have escaped. The company, city officials, and firefighters are still working to capture them. As of 11:30 a.m., they had not been able to capture 11 of them.

Emus are the second largest bird after the ostrich, reaching a maximum height of nearly two meters. Although they are mostly gentle and cannot fly, they can run at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour and have been known to attack when threatened, inflicting damage with the claws of their powerful three-toed feet.

The city of Kikuchi urged people to contact the city office if they see one and not to approach unnecessarily.

It goes without saying that you'd be foolish to try attacking one. We all know what happened in the Emu War...